By By JOHN EBY / Dowagiac Daily News
Just up the road from Timberline Inn on the north side of the lake is Indian Lake Woods at Sister Lakes.
Take School Street west and it dead-ends into Brush Lake Road along the Cass County-Berrien County line near Indian Lake Hills Golf Course.
Ten modular homes marketed by Harbor Country Real Estate have gone in since July 13 in a price range of $169,900 to $184,500.
River Birch Drive is in Silver Creek Township, with an Eau Claire address, but part of the Dowagiac Union Schools District.
Exteriors should be finished up this week. Interiors are done on a few of them, with the rest reaching move-in condition in the next 30 days.
The homes are ranches and bi-levels, or "raised ranches," in this new residential community nestled in southwest Michigan's fruit belt between Dowagiac and Sister Lakes and surrounded by hills, farms and lakes.
"We started to develop the property as you see it today back in 2001," according to broker Gary Gillings of Union Pier, who has a cottage at Indian Lake.
"The roads, water, sewer and all that were put in in 2001. It was licensed and zoned as a manufactured home community with the State of Michigan. We went to the marketplace, and everybody who came out here wanted to buy the lots instead of lease them, so we pulled everything out and decided to site condo it and start selling the lots."
Gillings, who does a lot of real estate consulting in New Buffalo, said the modular units manufactured in Nappanee, Ind., "are built to the same code as if it was stick-built. Everything's got a full basement under it and is three bedrooms, two baths. Our two bi-levels are two-bedroom, two-bath, half up and half down. They have two-car garages attached."
Gillings said eventually the development will have a clubhouse and community center.
The L-shaped parcel has about 200 lots on 50 acres.
Gillings said Monday afternoon their research showed "a pretty good market" for homes in the less than $200,000 price range.
He sees four distinct niches. "One is the snowbirds, farmers who retire and either sell to their families or turn them over to the kids. They're wintering in Florida or Arizona, but they want to be up here, but out in the country around this area rather than having to go to St. Joseph. Through the management company, we'll offer as much or as little maintenance as they want. We'll have the common area to take care. If someone wants their yard cut, we can offer them that service.
"The property has complete municipal sewer," Gillings continued. "We're part of the Dowagiac sewer system. We also have a municipal well system. We have two 8-inch wells on site to service the whole place. Electric is all underground. Gas will be by propane.
"I believe there's a second market for young families buying their first home and moving out of the rental. Something that's affordable and about the same price they're paying for rent that's theirs," Gillings said. "That market's out here from Dowagiac, Eau Claire, Niles and Watervliet. There's a pretty good circle of people who are looking.
"The third market I think is strong are couples who live out of the area, but they have family or friends who live out here" at Sister Lakes, Gillings said. "They'll come out from Chicago, though they don't necessarily need to be on the lake. They may summer out here with their parents or siblings – Sister Lakes has always been popular with Chicago. One couple who has expressed interest lives in Texas. They spend two months out here when it's hot in Texas. Their family is from this area, so they don't necessarily need to be on the lake, they just want to have their own place."
A fourth market, Gillings said, are fulltime residents who recently landed jobs at the Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians' Four Winds Casino Resort in New Buffalo.
"They're folks who want to live out here because their kids go to school or whatever, but they're not moving. They're driving from Hartford or Watervliet and can't afford New Buffalo or Three Oaks. This home sitting in New Buffalo is half a million bucks right now.
"It's amazing to me, but our market is strong in South Bend and Niles. And a lot of folks who live in Dowagiac work in Elkhart. That market we're trying to attract as well," Gillings said. "When we started last summer, the Dowagiac-Eau Claire real estate market was probably as strong as it's been in a number of years, as far as sales.
"The good thing with the group of investors that owns these is they have their own mortgage brokerage company and their own bank in Chicago, so I think they can bring funding to the table others might not be able to get in the conventional manner. I wouldn't do this right now in New Buffalo, but in Dowagiac, this is a right price home product. Try to find something in the Sister Lakes area for under $200,000. Hard to find, let alone touching anything on the lakes for that."